You won't see another film like Fay Grim this year, and we should give Hartley credit for making it work on his own terms.

Does a number of sly things.

This is a very little film with a very large heart.

The biggest sin of 28 Weeks Later is that it's not in the same league as the near-perfect movie that came before it.

A mindless comedy where the blatant racial stereotypes are outnumbered only by the flatulence jokes. The best thing that can be said about this movie is it falls just short of being an international incident.

The film is intended to be light and whimsical, but with a core of sincere emotion. But it's as if the thing were made by Martian anthropologists who assume that human audiences are as twisted as the people onscreen.

Art makes the difference for the few kids who make it, and it also makes the difference for the films that stand out from the pack. The Hip Hop Project, a documentary by Matt Ruskin, is one of them.

Save the price of admission to this dull retread and go have your hair done.

In general, the humor is understated, excessively so.

The Ex isn't painful, horrible or despicable, but it is an amazing mess.

A well-intentioned, but all-thumbs down drama.

Captures the flavor of putting on a show on Broadway.

Wildly imaginative if extremely strange.

To say it is about a debilitating disease is as reductive as saying "Little Miss Sunshine" is about a beauty pageant. Both are intimate stories of family ties that bind but sometimes also choke.

"Spider-Man 2" was a textbook example of how to make a sequel: Deepen it, make it funnier, give it more heart and come up with a strong villain and a good story. Spider Man 3, by contrast, shows how not to make a sequel.

The result is that most of the picture plays out as a series of scenes in which our hero sits there, gets angry and loses all his money.

A noble try that disappoints.

The result is that after two hours one gets the sense of having seen a panorama of human experience, of having witnessed a moment of time in all its true fullness.

Waitress deserves an essay, not just a review. There are perfect moments that stand out, and the reasons for their perfection are interesting.

Jindabyne suffers from too many extraneous elements and from a story that doesn't land with enough force or purpose.

The Condemned isn't post-modern junk, smirky junk, faux junk or clever junk. It's pure junk, with a certain integrity to it.

The Invisible is, at its core, a character study, albeit one with a Patrick Swayze-in-"Ghost" paranormal edge. But it's definitely not mindless trash. If anything, the movie is too introspective, to the point that it doesn't build enough conflict or tension.

A very stupid movie, with many more failed jokes than successful ones. Worse yet, much of the comedy is kind of mean.

It starts exploring different facets of its premise and transforms itself into a fairly competent suspense thriller. That's enough to make it respectable, but a few things keep Next from being lovable or memorable.

Sitting through Diggers is so tedious that you might find yourself envying the clam diggers. At least they get to be outdoors.

A heartfelt effort, if at times a bit heavy-handed.

Compelling.

This is an extremely violent movie, with one long gory scene that's particularly hard to stomach. The great majority of Triad Election is about political maneuvering, but when the conversations end, the blood flows mightily.

Plays like two films in one, and succeeds on both levels.

What audiences want when they go to a suspense thriller.

To his credit, writer-director Jonathan Kasdan is sensitive and observant...But he doesn't know what he's talking about, not really, and though he structures the film around his areas of ignorance, that only works partially.

Comes across as a cautionary tale.

An enjoyable farce, with lots of laughs and a strong cast. At 80 minutes long, it's that rare case of a short film that should have been longer.

To their credit, directors Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, both of San Francisco, poke gentle fun at the locals without ridiculing them. The film's playful spirit is underscored by catchy steel-guitar melodies (courtesy of the Friends of Dean Martinez) that perfectly suit the bone-dry setting.

Though not flawless, this is a compelling study, in Dogme style, of a wounded young woman who spends her working life spying on others.

Difficult to recommend, without first knowing the sobriety of the viewer.

No more than a minute into this, and it becomes obvious that the next 98 are going to be trouble.

To see Perfect Stranger is to wish for a more sophisticated vehicle for a film actress this good, but actors -- and audiences -- take what they can get. This is better than most.

This movie is so horrible that it actually spends some time in "so bad it's good" territory, before getting significantly worse.

One of those quirky little movies that you marvel ever got made.

For all it does right, there's something seriously wrong.

Suffers from Resnais' inability to open it up and give it the look and pulse of a film.

Caruso, a very visual director, serves up some surprises and scares, and he's paced his movie briskly. You're out of this disturbing suburbia before you know it, shaken and even stirred.

The Rodriguez segment is terrific; the Tarantino one long-winded and juvenile.

A personal story with broad implications for the culture as a whole.

Wickedly funny.

Perhaps Patten is trying to do to us what Rinpoche does to his followers, but the film's meandering structure and intrusive narration detract from the focus on the master.

Although The Reaping' borrows elements from classics of the genre -- rips them off might be more accurate -- it fails to build the psychological tension that made them so creepily good.

Obvious, but at least it's clean.

Perhaps worst of all, the movie is painfully long.

Van Houten, a veteran of European TV, is in almost every scene, and her energetic performance keeps Black Book percolating despite an overstuffed plot that strains credibility and often tips over into melodrama.

A worthy, fascinating film..

You're under the thrall of a new peculiar couple. Both actors appear to be having fun outmaneuvering each other on the ice and onscreen.

A solidly above-average thriller.

Frenetically paced but mostly pointless computer-animated film that will satisfy children but may give parents a headache.

One of the best films to open in the Bay Area in 2007.

Starts out OK, but then almost seems to be intentionally going for humor.

It's not fun to watch.

Though it becomes flimsy toward the end, it's a ripping yarn.

That Pride ultimately gets to you is more of a surprise than the outcome because it's not very well-constructed.

As moving as some parts are, it's muddled by a script that tries to pack in too much. There's sufficient material for a couple of films and a sitcom.

Silly, but an enjoyable, well-paced fantasy-action story.

In this pitch-perfect documentary about the very real rise of air guitar competition in the United States, and two of its top performers, stony thoughts will arise as to whether one is suddenly trapped inside a satire that got wrapped in a reality. Or vice versa, man.

Almost overcomes weak source material to become a decent film.

The filmmakers have wisely turned it into a comedy, and a wickedly entertaining one at that.

A neo-noir thriller long on atmosphere and short on production values.

If there is a beef to be had, it is that Tran seems to have tried so hard to make a movie of importance that his characters often resemble archetypes as opposed to people; the game cast appears straitjacketed at times. Still, it's a story that needed to be told.

Although its message is deadly serious, is is filled with wit and winning characters.

A big fizzle.

While the documentary isn't as compelling as its source material, Abbas tells an interesting story about his incarceration.

An acquired taste.

Not very good.

There's no attempt at humor in Dead Silence, but the biggest sin in the film is the lack of scares.

As uneven as I Think I Love My Wife often is, it still has an emotional resonance lacking in most films about relationships. By dealing with temptation in even a quasi-realistic way, it affirms that, like comedy, monogamy is hard.

A supernatural thriller that keeps your attention while failing to hold you in its grip.

Immediately has you in its thrall and doesn't let go -- a reminder of how powerful and moving cinema set in wartime can be when all the elements align.

This oddball story, written and directed by Anders Thomas Jen sen, whom Dogme followers might remember from his screenplay for the 1999 hit "Mifune," is more than a one-joke concept. Its characters are sometimes cruel, sometimes sweet, but always recognizably human.

Significantly, this hyper-stylization of 300 is limited to its visuals. The performances are played straight, and this combination -- straight performances and stylized visuals -- produces an uncanny effect.

A great piece of filmmaking and a legitimate science-fiction/horror classic.

Powerful and moving.

While the documentary does a credible job of pointing out the magnitude of the problem, it skirts the issue of what can be done about it and by whom.

Showing the intricate dynamics of family relationships is something Mira Nair does as well as any director working today.

Never takes off, but it never collapses. At times, it becomes frustrating -- for example, about 30 minutes are spent pursuing a lead that goes nowhere.

Hogwash and not even funny hogwash.

Black Snake Moan' is a trip to that unfamiliar territory well worth tagging along on.

Better than a lot of teen comedies.

The silence captured in this documentary -- a meditative look at life in the Carthusian monastery of the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps -- may be the most eloquent you'll ever hear.

The Astronaut Farmer's goofy quality makes it totally endearing. It's also super entertaining. Critics are fond of referring to movies as a "great ride." With this one, the words couldn't be more apt.

The humor is lowbrow, but the screenwriters and performers have a sense of pride that makes them strive for stupid jokes that haven't been done before.

Anyone who has ever felt morally right and completely in the minority will have a point of entry into this movie.

Every once in a while you catch glimpses of originality and see what Gray Matters might have been if it hadn't gone soft and safe.

Full of vitality and music and, at the same time, is a little wobbly, meandering and too long.

Hanssen is such an enigma that any attempt to explain him has inherent interest. Breach expends too much energy on a minor functionary, but it is still worth seeing for its fleeting looks into a heart of darkness.

Bridge to Terabithia is a good movie, but it could become truly great with a director's cut that leaves the fantastic elements a little more vague.

Ghost Rider has everything you don't want from your superhero movie, including lack of logic, boring action scenes, bad acting in the supporting performances, a brutally slow 114-minute running time and cringe-worthy dialogue.

That the film succeeds as well as it does despite a series of coincidences that strain credibility is a credit to a fine cast and a joie de vivre that pervades even the most implausible moments.

A moving but flawed premiere feature.

Given his built-in appeal, Perry has the opportunity to broaden the subject matter of so-called black movies. He takes a stab at it in "Girls," but he could do so much better.